This is Orbea's new Avant, their brand new endurance carbon road bike designed to be compatible with disc brakes, electronic and mechanical groupsets, and with capacity for 28mm tyres. It even has mudguard and rack mounts, so it's ticking a lot of boxes.
Here's Jokim Diez of Orbea with the low-down on the Avant:
It's seen here with SRAM's Red hydraulic disc brake groupset, with the hoses that carry the fluid to the calipers routed internally for some very clean lines. The rear caliper is located inside the stays, an approach that is common among the many new disc-equipped bikes at the show. The rear dropouts will take either 130 or 135mm hubs. With disc road bikes still in their infancy, Orbea wanted to future-proof the Avant. Adjusting the width is as easy as removing chips from the dropouts.
It's a bike designed to tackle long road rides with comfort; the carbon fibre frame is designed to provide a smooth ride. The geometry yields a shorter top tube and taller head tube, and the frame will be available in seven sizes from 47 to 60cm. Orbea use a fork with a 53mm rake on the three smallest sizes, and a 43mm rake fork on the larger sizes.
There are clear influences from the Orca here. Orbea have even considered the aerodynamics, though that wasn't a top priority. Orbea reckon their wind tunnel testing of the Avant with and without disc brakes returned 'negligible' differences, with caliper brakes only offering a clear advantage at yaw angles greater than 10 degrees. That's an interesting finding.
Other contemporary design features on the Avant include the Press Fit bottom bracket and tapered head tube. The mounting hardware for the calipers and disc brakes has been designed to be removable, so it's both an easy swap from one system to the other, and you're not left with redundant mounts.
While we looked at the carbon model, an aluminium version will also be available with the same features as this bike.
I can confidently say, this is my highlight of the show, and it's a bike I really can't wait to get a ride on.
David has worked on the road.cc tech team since July 2012. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds.